Wed, Dec 28, 2022
After Lengthy Quarantine Process, 'Polaris' Leaves SFO Terminal for New Family
Awwwww... A United Pilot got a free dog thanks to some erroneous paperwork, adopting the abandoned german shepherd mix at a local adoption party.
A traveler from China incorrectly filled out the paperwork for the dog's importation, resulting in a mandatory quarantine for the pup. The owner apparently had little interest in keeping it, leaving the dog at the San Francisco, California airport and flying out to New York, never to be seen again. CDC protocols required the dog to be shipped back to china or euthanized locally, neither a terribly palatable option for local United crew. Staff at SFO had grown increasingly attached to the little guy, named Polaris for the company's business class nomenclature.
United brass tapped their governmental affairs teams to lobby the CDC for leniency, which eventually got the dog a 4-month quarantine. Polaris stayed at a makeshift base in United's SFO facility, babysat by a rotation of employees to keep him happy and healthy until the paperwork was through. Once mercy was found, he was taken to the Los Angeles quarantine station (first class, of course) to wait out his sentence before seeking adoption. The San Fran SPCA helped set out the adoption process, which weeded out all but airline personnel to keep the new United mascot in the corporate family (or something close to it). Polaris found 35 willing families, which were randomly chosen from the top 5. His new family has a dog's dream, two young children, a backyard, and a nearby park in the same city he'd spent the better part of a year. Seeing the pup off, United personnel held an adoption party on December 15th in Terminal 3, attended by the airport's local pack of comfort dogs and plenty of friends in
tow.
“Without question, the United team went above and beyond for this animal,” said Lisa Feder of the SFSPCA. “There’s a saying in the animal welfare world: ‘One dog won’t change the world, but the world will change for one dog.’”
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